About Elly - Darbareye Elly (2009)

Synopsis

The winner of the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival’s Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, Asghar Farhadi's About Elly is a tense ensemble drama that unmasks male-female relationships in middle class Iran.

Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani) plans a weekend getaway to the Caspian Sea with some friends, and invites her son's kindergarten teacher, Elly, to finally introduce her to the newly single Ahmad.

However, her well-intentioned game of cupid turns foul when the trip is struck by sudden tragedy and Elly disappears.

Fear and guilt riddle the group as they try to find Elly but Sepideh's secret soon triggers a web of lies where saving face becomes more important than revealing the truth.

Farhadi skillfully sculpts a well-acted and powerful drama while maintaining the pace of a suspenseful mystery.

A sophisticated and effective work of Iranian Cinema, Farhadi continues to illuminate the complexities and contradictions of Iranian life. -- Genna Terranova

"Cinema audiences have grown more mature and directors can no longer be content with force feeding them a set of preconceived ideas.

Rather than asserting a world vision, a film must open a space in which the public can involve themselves in a personal reflection, and evolve from consumers to independent thinkers.

Cinema has no other choice but to take up this approach, as I did when I made 'About Elly'". -- Asghar Farhadi

BERLIN: An Iranian drama exploring the lengths to which people go to uphold the country’s social conventions has won warm reviews at the Berlin film festival, putting it in the early running for prizes.

About Elly (Darbareye Elly), starring Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani as Sepideh, centres around a group of middle-class Iranians who drive to the shores of the Caspian Sea for a short break from Tehran.